AI-powered platform Brij released a new report, The AI Fluency Gap: The Hidden Retail Opportunity in Offline-to-Online Engagement, revealing a widening disconnect between retailers’ AI ambitions and their ability to unify and activate customer signals across channels. While 97% of marketers deem offline engagement visibility “critical” or “important,” 42% admit they still “can’t connect the dots” from in-store touchpoints to digital journeys and measurable ROI.
According to the survey of 100 marketing and brand leaders at consumer product companies ($25M–$100M+ revenue), AI enthusiasm is high, yet fluency, adoption and integration remain fragmented:
- AI fluency is surface deep. While 82% of marketers report being “very familiar” with generative AI, confidence drops to 38% for agentic AI and just 33% for Model Context Protocol (MCP), resulting in a clear “fluency cliff.”
- Adoption exists, but it’s patchy. Roughly 62% use AI for personalization and workflow automation, but 25% are still piloting projects, and 11% are only experimenting with tools like ChatGPT, without strategy or measurable impact.
- Offline remains a blind spot. Although 72% run loyalty sign-ups, 57% deploy QR codes, and 40% rely on retailer data-sharing, 23% still can’t personalize follow-ups and 22% can’t measure ROI from these efforts.
“Retailers aren’t missing data, they’re missing unification,” said Kait Stephens, CEO of Brij, in a news release. “The survey shows retailers are eager and investing, but too many are still stuck in fragmented adoption. Until brands can activate offline engagement with AI, they’ll continue to leave revenue and loyalty on the table.”
The Economic Cost of Inaction
Brij’ analysis estimates that every unactivated offline profile represents $20–$100 in lost customer lifetime value (LTV). For a brand with 250,000 unactivated profiles, that translates into $5–$25 million in missed opportunity.
The report mentioned a case study with technology brand Skullcandy, in which the brand rolled out Brij-powered QR codes across packaging in 2025, turning fragmented post-purchase touchpoints into a unified branded flow. Within six months, Skullcandy identified 60,000+ offline customers, drove 1.75M engagements and achieved a 20% scan-to-registration rate, well above industry benchmarks.
“This is not data retailers were sharing with us, and for us it’s a huge unlock,” said Evin Catlett, Global VP at Skullcandy, in the release. “We can now see marketplace and offline purchase behavior and build lasting customer relationships well beyond the first sale.”
From Fragmented Adoption to Connected Fluency
The report outlines a practical maturity curve: (1) isolated experiments, (2) fragmented adoption, (3) connected fluency with unified profiles and integrations and (4) AI-first retail where intelligence powers every interaction. Most brands sit in stage two.
“Consumers already move seamlessly between store aisles and online carts,” Stephens added in the release. “It’s time for retailers to catch up. The brands that unify offline and online with AI will win the next decade of loyalty.”
